June 8, 2010

Savory Sandwich and Baguette

The Savory Sandwich Ring is a classic Pampered Chef recipe my mom (and now me) has been making for years. When making it for dinner for my husband and me, I halve the recipe and just make the bread into a long, straight sandwich, not a ring. I am not one to buy pre-made dough, but I admit I always used the refrigerated dough in this recipe, until now! This time I made my own baguette using the Artisan Bread in Less than Five Minutes a Day recipe/method (see below). It was really easy. I recommend tearing out some of the insides of the baguette to make more room for the sandwich stuffing.

Preheat oven to 350˚. Place dough seam side down on round baking stone, pinching ends together to form a circle. Cut 6 to 8 diagonal slashes (1/2-inch deep) on top of dough; spray or brush with olive oil. Press garlic over top of bread dough circle; spread evenly over dough. Sprinkle with oregano and basil. Bake 26-30 minutes or until deep golden brown. Cool on stone to keep bread crispy.

Slice bread in half horizontally. Cover bottom half of bread ring with overlapping meat slices. Top with cheese slices and lettuce. Spoon 2 tablespoons salad dressing over circle of lettuce. Layer onion, green pepper, and tomato slices over lettuce. Top with olives. Spread bread with ¼ c. salad dressing over cut side of bread top using brush; place over sandwich. Cut into wedges and serve.

Baguette - (this recipe makes 4 baguettes. I usually halve it)
from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Hertzberg and Francois

Mixing and Storing the Dough
1. Heat the water to just a little warmer than body temperature (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Add yeast and salt to the water in a 5-quart bowl or, preferably, in a resealable, lidded container (not airtight — use container with gasket or lift a corner). Don’t worry about getting it all to dissolve.
3. Mix in the flour by gently scooping it up, then leveling the top of the measuring cup with a knife; don’t pat down. Mix with a wooden spoon, a high-capacity food processor with dough attachment, or a heavy-duty stand mixer with dough hook, until uniformly moist. If hand-mixing becomes too difficult, use very wet hands to press it together. Don’t knead! This step is done in a matter of minutes, and yields a wet dough loose enough to conform to the container.
4. Cover loosely. Do not use screw-topped jars, which could explode from trapped gases. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flatten on top), approximately two hours, depending on temperature. Longer rising times, up to about five hours, will not harm the result. You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and easier to work with than room-temperature dough. We recommend refrigerating the dough at least three hours before shaping a loaf. And relax! You don’t need to monitor doubling or tripling of volume as in traditional recipes.

On Baking Day
1. Preheat oven to 450 with a stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray on any other shelf that won’t interfere with the rising bread.
2. Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour, then cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-sized) piece with a serrated knife. Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won’t stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on four “sides,” rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go, until the bottom is a collection of four bunched ends. Once it’s cohesive begin to stretch and elongate the dough, dusting with additional flour as necessary. You may find it helpful to roll it back and forth with your hands on a flour-dusted surface. From a cylinder approx. 2 inches in diameter. If the loaf won’t fit on your pizza peel or stone, cut it in half to make two smaller baguettes. Place the loaf/loaves on a pizza peel covered with whole wheat flour and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
3. After the dough has rested, paint water over the surface of the loaf using a pastry brush. Slash the loaf with longitudinal cuts that move diagonally across the loaf, using a serrated bread knife.
4. Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until deeply browned and firm to the touch.
5. Allow to cool on a rack before cutting or eating.